The Wire

The Assemblies of God, one of the largest and fastest-growing Pentecostal churches in Australia, has announced its intention to massively expand its congregation. At a conference last week, the church stated its aim was to expand the number of churches nationwide from roughly 1000 to 1500, and to appoint 2000 new ministers. Hillsong, one of the Assemblies of God’s more prominent churches in Sydney attracts an average of more than 17 000 worshippers every Sunday. The Assemblies have an impressive growth rate. 176 new churches have been established in the last two years – a rate of one every four days. Although the church has publicly disavowed any political agenda, its potential political power as a conservative force has not been lost on prominent Australian politicians. John Howard opened Hillsong’s convention centre in October 2002, and Peter Costello spoke at the Assemblies of God annual conference in July 2004. This has given rise to a growing concern about the influence of the religious right on Australian politics and comparisons are being made to the religious right’s political power of the in the United States. Dr Marion Maddox is a Senior Lecturer in Religious Studies at Victoria University of Wellington, and author of the recently published “God Under Howard: The Rise of the Religious Right in Australian Politics”. Dr Maddox described for the Wire the character of religious conservativism in Australia.